The Five Percent Solution

By John Steiner

The Russians have a saying: 'Perfect' is often the enemy of 'good enough'. Are you willing to become a more effective person? Are you willing to find better solutions to problems and challenges? As counter-intuitive as this might seem, there may be only one thing standing in your way: perfectionism.

Perfectionism seems like a truly positive quality certainly in part because it is based on the word "perfect." Likewise, in manufacturing you are quite familiar with the storied history of quality initiatives such as Six Sigma aimed at driving out errors at every stage of a product lifecycle. So what could be wrong with expecting perfection?

In reality, you may have discovered that the world occasionally resists us and people are far from perfect. You may even have faced major setbacks in your own personal or professional life. Nevertheless, according to management consultant John C. Maxwell, "The key difference between average people and achievers is their perception of and response to failure." Simply put, achievers do not obsess about their mistakes, they benefit from them. Achievers do not wallow in self-pity; they see failure as the price of progress. Maxwell continues, "Get over yourself. Everyone else has!"

Of course high achievers have high standards, but there is an all-important difference between high standards and impossible standards. I advise my clients to focus on "optimal" results rather than "perfect" results. An optimal result is the best result possible under the circumstances. An impossible result is just that: impossible.

A Mental Trap
How can I revolutionize my industry? How can I have eternal health and happiness? How can I create lasting peace on earth? While these may be admirable questions, we need to be aware of the mental trap which perfectionism creates. When we state an unreachable goal, our internal mechanism recognizes it as such. Subconsciously we say, "That's impossible... so why try at all?" Many people who could achieve tremendous results are quietly fuming as "failures" because they have overreached in setting their goals.

When I counsel people in the business world I always begin by asking them to state what it is that they would like to accomplish. Naturally, nothing is more important than to know our desired outcome, but then I ask: "Alright, now how can we improve things by five percent?" Keep in mind that if a middle-size business, for example, is generating a hundred million dollars per year in revenue; a five percent increase in their efficiency translates to roughly $5,000,000 added to the bottom line this year and every year. That is a lot of money over ten years.

Many of my clients have made remarkable progress by focusing on one new behavior every day. Sometimes they add a habit like writing down daily goals. Sometimes they drop a habit like smoking or a bad diet. In some cases changing just one daily choice makes all the difference. The key is to do something.

The Secret of Achievers
Achievers are proactive. They set achievable goals and, unlike perfectionists, they understand the need to learn and grow through mistakes. Achievers are comfortable being uncomfortable. Only when we get into action — taking risks and making mistakes — do we finally become better.

Perfectionists fear what they perceive as "mistakes" while achievers gather what they understand as "experience." One day an art dealer was admiring a picture painted by Pablo Picasso. He asked the artist how long it had taken him to paint it. Picasso replied, "Two hours...and thirty years!"

Of course, true perfectionists do not stop there. They are not even satisfied with perfect results. A true perfectionist feels the need to be perfect in every way. Perfectionists are some of the most stressed people you will ever encounter because, again, they have set unreasonable goals. Winston Churchill was said to consume two bottles of scotch per day. So was Ulysses S. Grant. Fortunately, Abraham Lincoln was able to balance the value of real-world results versus personal perfection. He looked at Grant's results and said "Find out what he drinks and send a case to all my generals!"

While results are important, perfectionists need to learn to focus on process as well. When we set out to achieve something great we need to remember that not only is the destination worth the journey, the journey is worth the journey.

What are you doing each day to improve your skills? I encourage my clients to target meaningful goals and sharpen their skills along the way. This is an approach that is not perfect — but more than good enough.

John Steiner is a corporate trainer and executive coach based in Los Angeles. He has helped many business people improve their efficiency and effectiveness; in some cases as much as 40 percent. He provides free initial consultations at 323.969.4614.